Saturn images from Cassini probe as it prepares to turn lens towards Earth

By Dilip -
The Cassini space probe will be taking images of the Earth from Saturn in a month's time, as part of its mission to explore the ringed planet.



NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The shots will be taken from a distance of 1.44 billion kilometres, giving people a view of the Earth from the perspective of Saturn. Although the Earth will only appear as a small blue dot in between the rings, it will be part of a multi-image portrait that of the Saturn system that is being composed by Cassini.  
15 Sep 2006: With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world.NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The images of the Earth will be taken at 10:27 pm for 15 minutes while Saturn eclipses the sun. Cassini has previously created two mosaic images of the Saturn system in 2006 and in 2012, however this will be the first time that the probe has captured images of the Earth in natural colours, and how it would appear to humans.

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